(Newser)
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Bernie Sanders' first appearance before his delegates in Philadelphia early Monday was met with boos as he implored them to vote for Hillary Clinton. At the start of his Monday night speech at the Wells Fargo Center, it took Sanders several minutes to calm down the cheering, chanting crowd. He thanked his supporters, saying he looked forward to their votes at roll call and he was as disappointed as anybody by the results of the nominating process. He went on to draw a sharp contrast between the positions of Trump and Clinton, though cheers were mixed with boos when he said: "Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close." Five of his best lines:

"Election days come and go," he said. "Butthe struggle of the people to create a government which represents all of us and not just the 1%—a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice—that struggle continues."

"This election is about ending the 40-year decline of our middle class," he said, "the reality that 47 million men, women, and children live in poverty. It is about understanding that if we do not transform our economy, our younger generation will likely have a lower standard of living then their parents."

"If you don't believe this election is important, if you think you can sit it out, take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump would nominate and what that would mean to civil liberties, equal rights, and the future of our country," Sanders said after getting huge cheers for describing Citizens United as "one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in the history of our country."

It is no secret that he disagrees with Clinton, Sanders told the crowd. But there "was a significant coming together between the two campaigns and we produced, by far, the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party. Among many other strong provisions, the Democratic Party now calls for breaking up the major financial institutions on Wall Street and the passage of a 21st century Glass-Steagall Act," he said. The crowd chanted "No TPP" when Sanders added that the platform calls for "opposition to job-killing free trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership."

"Our job now is to see that strong Democratic platform implemented by a Democratic Senate, a Democratic House and a Hillary Clinton presidency—and I am going to do all that I can to make that happen," Sanders said, getting far more cheers than boos this time, despite the mention of Clinton.

To conclude his remarks, Sanders said he remembers Clinton as "a great first lady who broke precedent in terms of the role that a first lady was supposed to play as she helped lead the fight for universal health care. I served with her in the United States Senate and know her as a fierce advocate for the rights of children," he said. "Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her here tonight." The full speech is here.

A lot of lip-licking in the old man's speech (like John Kerry). I estimated ~ 250 lip-licks during the speech. They should nickname him "Tootsie Pops," because it took 250 licks to get to the center of his farce.

Queequeg

Jul 26, 2016 3:41 PM CDT

Bernie gave an excellent speech. He's helped move the Democratic Party forward.